Violin, &amp;c.



F. M. ASHLEY.

VIOLIN, 6w.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19. 1915.

Patented Feb. 8, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

sum

F. M. ASHLEY.

VIOLIN, 6w. APPLICATION FILED-FEB. 19. 1916.

Patented Feb. 8, 1921.

2, SHEETSSHEET 2.

. UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK M. ASHLEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

VIOLIN, eke.

Application flledlebruary 19, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK M. AsHLnY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and btate of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Violins, &c. of which the followingis a specification.

The present invention relates to violins, violas and similar bow instruments.

One of the, objects of my invention is to provide an instrument in which the top and bottom plates will contain more long fibers in the wood than can vbe obtained in violins of standard make and at the same time providing for archings of the plates both longitudinally and transversely, whereby the have when finished and formed partly by strength of the plates will be increased and the responsiveness and olearness of tone will be greater when new than that of former types of instruments.

Another object is toprovide an instrument in which the transverse arching of the plates across the breast adjacent thebridge is low Without reducing the depth of the instrument at this point below the depth usually found in violins of the old type.

A further object isfto provide an instrument in which the corner blocks heretofore used may be dispensed with, without weakening the instrument at the points where these blocks were formerly placed.

' A still further object is to provide an illstrument, the top and bottom plates of which may be made of thin boards cut to approximately the thickness which the plates should jects will more fully hereinafter appear,

, The operation of pressing may be dispensed with if atransverse archis not to be formed across the. middle of the instrument higher than the arching produced bysbendingthe plate over the end walls, as will be explained more. fully'hereinafter. Also, if

desired the plates may be routed to produce the transversearching across the'middle of the instrument, but need not be routed to such a degree as heretofore practised to obain a sufficiently strong arc'hi to perfectly suppo'rt'tfie string pressure on the bridge.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 8, 1921.

Serial No. 79,243.

The violin has not been materially changed 111 1ts construction in over four hundred years, most so-called improvements being found to interfere in one way or another with certain qualities that a violin mustpossess to be at its best,and, therefore, a short statement of facts should be made in order to make clear the advantages of the present construction over instruments made by the old process.

The old type of violin is made as follows:

The sides are made of a hard wood, generally curly maple about thick and about 1% to 1%" high, which height is about the same all around the sound box or body, the top and bottom edges forming supports onovhich a plane surface would rest at all points. The top plate is usually made of a soft wood of uniform fiber, such as spruce, light in weight and rather brittle in quality to make the best sounding plates, and gen erally not over a," thick at the middle of the plate and gradually thinner as it extends toward the sides and ends to about thickness. The bottom plate is usually made of curly maple, rather hard in quality and about thick at the middle of the plate and gradually getting thinner toward the sides and ends to a thickness of There is a downward pressure of about 27 lbs. on the bridge and a tension of about 68 lbs. on the strings. To stand the pressure on the bridge, the arch at this place must either be high and narrow if the wood is thin, or may be made lower and wider if the wood is made thicker and correspondingly stronger. However, the thicker the wood is, the greater the weight, and, therefore, the instrument is less sensitive to the vibrations set up by the bow acting on the strings, but this is compensated for by the increase in sensitiveness with the decrease in the height and stiffness of the arch. There is another important point to keep 111 mind, that is, if the wood is made too thin; in the plates in the effort to obtain the quality of responsiveness, the instrument will: have a thin, Weak: and often a harsh tone, and the heavier the plates can be made and freely vibrated, the stronger and more beautiful will bethe quality of music obtained. Furthermore,- to produce" a' finemusical tone in a violin, there must'be a sufiicient massof air in the sound box and the sound-box shouldfbe of greatest depth at "I properties. In this respect, the old model violins are practically perfect and sirable to maintain their dimensions.

Therefore, to provide a more perfect instrument, it should have a low transverse arch in. the plates at the middle with full thickness of wood, or the waist at this point might be made fiat if the sides of the instrument were carried high enough to support it properly, since from the foregoing it will be obvious that the lower the archor nearer fiatthe area adjacent the bridge, the easier the plate will vibrate with a given weight of string.

Heretofore the top and bottom plates have been made from a slab about ,5 in thickness. After the slab was cut to the outline shape of a violin plate, the under side of the slab was scooped or rented out to provide the arched surface. and then the upper side was cut away until the plate was properly formed. This method of construction is wasteful of material and the routing process cut across the long fibers of the wood so that when the violin w.s finished, the plates were composed of a large number of short fibers instead of long unbroken fibers. This is great disadvantage as the plate having the short fibers is, mechanica-lly, much weaker than one having the long fibers and also the instrument having the short fiber plates has a husky tone when new, whereas when the long fibers are preserved, the instrument has a perfectly clear tone as soon as it is finished.

Referring to the drawings which form a part of this specification,

Figure l is a top view of a violin embodying my invention,

Fig. 2 is a side view, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the near side of the median line.

Fig. 4 is a view of the body or sound box portion with the top plate removed. taken on line H of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 3.

A indicates the top plate or belly, and B the bottom plate or back of a violin embodying my invention. C indicates generally the side walls, the lower portion or lower end wall being designated as C, the upper portion or upper end wall being designated as C and F indicating the waist portion. D indicates the neck, E the 7 holes, and the end blocks are indicated by G and G respectively. H indicates the usual base bar, and I the sound post. J indicates brace bar which is placed just below the top plate A and extends from the block G to block G and acts to prevent a compression strain on the sides of the sound box and top, and thus permits the corner blocks heretofore used be dispensed with and the sides C to each be it is dein a single strip, thereby providing an instrument without the corners at the waist portion. If desired, however, the corner blocks and old outline of plate may be used. but in either case, the brace bar placed as illustrated, will greatly strengthen the instrument and permit the box to vibrate more freely.

The drawings clearly illustrate how the top and bottom edges of the side and end walls are curved or sloped.

From these it will be clear that at the waist portion the side walls are higher than at either side thereof. Consequently in order that the depth through the instrument as a whole should be equal to that of the old form, only a slight arching of the plate is necessary. In this way the plate need not be arched too high and yet suflicient freedom of vi oration thereof permitted and sutlicient depth of resonating chamber had. If it is desired to make the end walls straight and about equal in height to the adjacent ends of the side walls, this can be done, but the pressure on the bridge will be increased due to the greater angle of the strings over the bridge.

In making the top and bottom plates, 1 take the wood in the form of a thin board. cut to the required outline, and place the same in a press on a form to press the wood into an oval shape at the waist portion, being careful not to press fast or far enough to rupture the fiber of the wood. After a few hours in the press, the plate may be removed and will remain permanently set; then the plate is simply bent over the curved edges of the sides and glued thereto in the usual manner. In this manner, I am able to provide a construction of beautiful appearance, retaining the fibers long and strong. If the pressing operation is used to form a high arch without the side walls being raised or curved at the waist as shown, the fibers are strained and ruptured and the tone of such an instrument will never be satisfactory.

It is obvious that much wood is saved by this method of construction over the old method, and also considerable time is saved, since the bending operation is much more simple than the routing of the thick plate. In fact, I can get four top plates from the same amount of wood required for one top made according to the old method. The pressing operation may be dispensed with without injury to the tonal quality of the instrument in case a comparatively flat top at the waist is desired. Also by curving the ends, as illustrated, and making the sides less curved and lower at the waist line, the latter may he formed with a low arch.

It will be clear from the foregoing that the form of the instrument may be modified without departing from the invention disclosed and while I limit my invention to a stringed bow instrument of this class, I do claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A violin or similar instrument compris ing a sound box having top and bottom plates, andend and side walls, said top and bottom plates having a slight arch formed therein above the greatest height of the sides, the side walls being formed of a greater height at the waist of the sound box than at the points adjacent the waist, thus forming sloping edgesto which the top and bottom plates are bent and attached.

2. A violin or similar instrument comprising a sound box having top and bottom plates, and end and side walls, said top and bottom plates having a slight arch formed therein above the greatest height of the sides, the side walls being formed of a greater height at the Waist of the sound box than at the points adjacent the waist, and the end walls being of greater height at the middle and decreasing to merge with the comparatively lower portion of the side walls, the top and bottom plates being bent to conform to the slope of the edgesof the side and end walls and attached thereto.

3. A violin or similar instrument comprising a sound box having arched top and bottom plates, end blocks at the end walls, the top and bottom of which are glued to the top and bottom plates, and a light brace bar in the interior of the sound box closely adjacent the top plate and extending between said end blocks wholly above the median line of the instrument to take up the longitudinal strain of the strings.

4:. A violin or similar instrument comprising a sound box having top and bottom plates, and side and end walls, the top and bottom plates having a slight arch formed therein above the level of the, greatest height of the sides and the walls being of varying height to which the plates are bent and attached, end blocks at the end walls of the sound box, and a bar within the sound box extending between the end blocks and disposed closely adjacent to the upper plate to take up the longitudinal strain of the strings to prevent the top plate from arching further under the tension of the strings.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York, and State of New York, this 16th day of February, A. D. 1916.

FRANK M. ASHLEY.

\Vitnesses:

MINNIE S. MILLER, NATHAN COHEN. 

